Circus Freak
by darkbunnies
Summary: Max, Nudge and Shiloh all live at a traveling circus. Their lives are turned upside down when they meet Iggy, Gazzy and Fang. Full summery inside, Fax, Nazzy, Iggy/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Full summary: Max, Nudge and Shiloh live in the circus. One day, their lives are turned upside down when they meet Iggy, Gazzy and Fang. What happened to Max's family, and why is Fang so familiar to her? Why is Nudge so afraid of adults? Why was Shiloh really disowned by her own family? Fax, Nazzy, Iggy/OC**

**Now that that's over with, I'M SO HAPPY THAT I FINALLY FINISHED THE FIRST CHAPTER! And then I remembered that I have solo practice and tutoring after school, which will last a few months. I can't catch a break, can I? Oh, well. On with the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: I live in the middle of nowhere in one of the lesser-known states. If you can't tell from that, I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Max POV**

I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. I grabbed the bar in my hands and stepped closer to the edge of the platform. I looked over at Sam to get the signal to start. He nodded at me and I stepped off the edge and freefell. I felt a slight tug on my arms as the bar stopped me from falling completely and swung back and forth while Sam did the same. I kept it up to build momentum, and when I had enough I flipped upward, one leg up so I was doing a split in midair. As I flipped, I felt Sam grab my hands in a perfect split layout. Once I was near my bar again, I flipped back over. I twisted myself around until I was facing Sam again. I then built up more momentum and flipped around twice in the air, Sam catching me by my legs. We swung for a second before I grabbed my bar and he let go. I glanced over at the clock on the wall as we hung there. We were almost out of practice time. I nodded at him to do our signature move and end practice. He grinned at me and started pumping his legs to go higher and faster. I copied his movement, and at the same time, we let go. Flipping in the air, I felt myself hit the net, and saw Sam do the same. I felt my body bounce back up, and I avoided hitting Sam as I reached for the bar he had been occupying earlier. I grabbed on to it and swung myself on to the platform.

You might be a little lost on what in the world I'm talking about. Well, my name is Maximum Ride, Max for short, and I live at the circus. If you couldn't tell, I'm a trapeze artist. This is the part where I tell you about my past, but honestly? I don't remember it. I only remember finding myself on the streets, looking at a small blonde girl.

As if on cue, I heard clapping as I climbed down the ladder. As I reached the floor, said blonde girl, just ten years older, gave me a flying tackle hug.

"Wow Max! That was awesome!" She said. The blonde girl's name is Shiloh. She's the one who found me when I woke up on the streets.

"Shi speaks the truth. That was awesome! How did you do that last move?" My other friend, Nudge, asked. Maybe I should explain about Shi and Nudge. Shi's full name is Shiloh Carter. No one knows her middle name. She never tells anyone, not even me and Nudge. Shi has blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She calls herself a walking cliché. Her hair is curly, falling about halfway down her arm. She has a blue streak near the front with blue slashes in her side swept bangs that always cover her right eye. She was tall, but not freakishly tall. Shi is the magician in the circus, her alias being the magician of the spirit. Kinda lame, I know. She didn't come up with it, the ringmaster did.

Nudge is the youngest of us all. While Shi and I are sixteen, she's only fifteen. She has coffee colored skin and pretty brown hair and big brown eyes. Her full name is Monique Charlotte Carrow. Her alias is the dancer of the night. She was a huge fashonita with a passion for talking. Shiloh and I once timed her to see how long she could keep up a one-sided conversation. She lasted about an hour and a half. By that time, I was drawing and Shi was watching wheel of fortune. It's strange, but Shiloh is really good at wheel of fortune. No one knows how or why. She just is.

"How did you not crash into Sam?" Shiloh's question tore me out of my thoughts. Before I could answer, I heard a male voice behind me.

"Because we're awesome, that's why." Sam said, walking near us. Sam was my trapeze partner. He had sand-colored hair that was slightly curly and bright blue eyes. **(A/N: I don't remember what color of hair and eyes Sam had in the book, so I'm just guessing.)** He winked at me as he walked by. This fact did not go un-noticed by my freakazoid friends.

"OMG Max, did you see that! He winked at you! You guys really should date. You would make such a cute couple! You guys have all the same interests. EEK! When you guys get married, I want to be a bridesmaid! I would want to be the maid of honor, but I have a feeling that will be Shi and HMPH!" Nudge's rant was cut off by me slapping my hand over her mouth.

"Nudge! We aren't even dating, and you're already planning me getting married to him! We're only sixteen; we can't even get married now!" I whisper-yelled at her.

"You can in New Hampshire." Shiloh said with a smirk. **(A/N: I had to put this line in. I don't own it either.) **I gaped at her.

"You're siding with the enemy?" I said, mock hurt filling my voice. She giggled at me.

"You stole my hat last week. This is just payback." She said, still giggling. I forgot to mention Shiloh's hat. Shi has a hat that she wears every time she performs. The hat is a small top had that sits on the left side of her head crookedly. It's sparkly, and above the rim is a black satin bow that ties in the front. I remember when she got it, and why it means so much to her. It was a dirty trick, but she stole my sketchbook, so I considered it a fair trade.

"Well, whatever. I don't even like Sam that way." I replied. Shi and Nudge shrugged and we headed out of the tent. On the way there, I bumped into someone. Literally.

"Ugh, watch where you're going." A nasally voice sneered at me. Great. Lissa. Just my luck. She was the ringmaster's daughter, and boy was she annoying. She did nothing in the show, and when she helped out, she usually made it worse. For some odd reason she hated me, Nudge and Shiloh. I can't imagine why. Maybe it was because we filled her trailer with shaving cream. But I digress. I didn't feel like dealing with her today, so I simply flipped her off and left.

"Classy." Shi said, catching up to me.

"Yes, very lady-like" Nudge added, appearing on my other side. I shrugged and kept walking. If you can't tell, I'm not exactly a lady.

"Back to my original question, how did you not crash into Sam?" Shiloh asked.

"Because we avoided each other in the air. It's called dodging." I said, walking into the area where we kept the trailers. A lot of people had to share trailers, but by some stroke of luck, we got our own trailers. We love each other and all, but we all agreed never to bunk with each other. It was just a bad idea. I kick in my sleep, Nudge sleep talks, and Shi has a nasty habit of falling out of bed. A lot.

"WHOA!" I heard a sudden yell. I turned around to see what had happened. I mentally face-palmed as I saw Shi on the ground, having tripped over a rock in the ground.  
>"Max! The ground just tripped me!" Shiloh complained, holding her right knee to her chest, the other leg stretched out in front of her.<p>

"Girly, that was your own fault. The ground didn't trip you." Nudge said, nearing tears from her laughter.

"Yes it did! I have a lot of grace, and the ground was just super jealous." Shi shot back. At that line, I was having trouble holding in my giggles as well.

"Honey, you have the grace of a one-footed penguin." I replied. She giggled at that and got up, jumping on one foot while imitating a penguin. Nudge fell over in laughter, and I started to giggle harder. It wasn't even that funny, it was more the fact that she was doing it in public. The trailer park was near a street, and looked over at a strip mall thing across the field it was on. There were people shopping there, and most had looked over to see what was happening. Most looked confused. Their faces made me cry I was laughing so hard. Nudge and Shiloh looked over to see what was so funny, and fell down with me in laughter. Once I calmed down, I looked over at Shi and gasped.

"Shi! You're bleeding!" I exclaimed. The rock she had tripped over tore a hole in her jeans, and I saw rivets of blood running down her leg.

"OH! So I am. How about that? Let's go clean it off." Shiloh said, picking herself up off the ground. I pulled Nudge up and went to go help my weirdo of a best friend.

**Chapter one is done! Woot woot! Anyway, did you like it? By the way, the boy's won't appear until about 3 chapters in. Character development and such. Anyway, Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Holy Duck Pajamas! I suck! Sorry about how long it took to get this up! I meant to have this up sooner, but I either didn't have time at home, or I had Annie practice (I was a servant) or I was just too lazy to get around to it. Oh, and to Maximum Phantomhive, yes, this is a re-write of my original. And by the way, I love your screen-name. Kuroshitsuji for the win! Anyway, enough from me. Onward!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Maximum Ride.**

**Shiloh POV:**

"Ow, ow, ow, FREAKING OW!" I yelled. After Max noticed the blood on my leg, she and Nudge had helped me back to my trailer to clean it up. I was currently sitting on my bed with Max on the floor attempting to help.

"It's just a little disinfectant Shi!" Max growled. She had been attempting to do this for about ten minutes and had gotten nowhere, the first five minutes of me trying to hide. She was pretty impatient at this point.

"It feels like you're putting liquid fire on my knee!" I shrieked, my leg snapping upwards. To my horror, I managed to kick Max in the face. Her head turned to the side, and she looked that way for a second, pure silence filling the room. The tension in the room was growing, and I was really nervous. What if she got really mad? Suddenly she looked over at me, shooting her best death glare. I squeaked and hid behind a pillow.

"…Continue…" I said quietly. She nodded with an 'I thought so' look on her face. The rest of the time was quiet, other than the occasional pitiful whimper from me. She finally finished and stood up, putting the disinfectant away.

"There, now was that so bad?" She asked. I nodded, and to my relief, she laughed. She went to the medicine cabinet in my bathroom and looked for the band-aids.

"Barbie or Pokémon?" She asked. I shot her my best 'Are you kidding me?' look, and she shrugged and grabbed the Pokémon ones.

"Just making sure." She said, tossing the box to me. I smiled and grabbed one with charizard on it.

"Is…is the blood gone?" Nudge asked timidly through my door. Nudge hated blood, getting sick anytime she is near it. Once she got me to my bed, she bolted out the door to wait.

"Yeah, It's gone." I replied, throwing the box into my bathroom.

"Thank goodness. Max, the Ringmaster wants to talk to you." She said. Max paused what she was doing.

"What about?" She said, confusion evident in her eyes. Nudge shrugged.

"Well, I hope it's nothing serious." She said, and walked out the door.

"If you see Lissa, push her into the tiger pens please!" I yelled after her. Nudge giggled and went to my bunny's cage. She opened up the top and gently lifted my bunny out.

"Ninja is so sweet!" She said, cradling him in her arms. He shifted for a moment, getting comfortable, and closed his eyes again.

"Yep." I agreed. "He's my little baby." I pet his soft ears while he soaked up all of the attention he was receiving.

"Oh wow. He's out of water already." I said, noticing the lack of water in the bottle. I took the bottle out and filled it up. As I walked out of the bathroom, Nudge shrieked, nearly causing me to drop the water bottle, and causing Ninja to startle.

"Calm your tacos Nudge!" I exclaimed, walking to where she was standing, snapping the water bottle back into the holder.

"ZOMG Shi! I gotta go! Kirsten just texted me and told me that practice started 20 MINUTES AGO!" She screamed loudly. She dumped Ninja on my bed and ran out of the door, saying that she would meet me up tonight for our annual before-show sleepover.

"Well, it's just you and me, Ninja." I sighed, picking him up and sitting him on a pillow on the right side of my bed. I lay down and grabbed my T.V remote. I flipped through the channels aimlessly while I glanced around my room, studying it.

My walls are very brightly colored. The wall where my door is located is a hot pink. My right wall where my closet is located is electric blue. My back wall is neon green, and my left wall where the bathroom is located is a super bright purple. One of the older clowns used to be an electrical technician, so he installed black lights onto my ceiling. My bedspread was black and white checkered, so the white glowed, I had black light pens, pencils, picture frames, jars of chemical water that glowed in black lights, makeup, and figurines placed strategically around the room. Ninja's cage was by the bathroom door. On the other side of the bathroom door was my bookshelf, although really, only one shelf had real books. The other five held my manga books. I had a strange obsession with manga and anime. I had a bedside table where I kept whatever manga or book I was reading and I kept some snacks in the drawer.

Anyway, I continued to flip through the channels when one of my favorite shows came on.

"Oh, sweet! Ghost Adventures!" I said to myself. I was a huge paranormal nut. I had night vision cameras, voice recorders, EMF readers, all the stuff that was needed. Max and Nudge don't believe in that stuff and I can just see them rolling their eyes at me for watching this.

"_Hey Jim! What color are your pants?" _Zak yelled out.

"…what?" I asked aloud, cocking my head to the side in confusion. The ghost replied blue, leaving me more confused.

"Do ghosts even wear pants?" I asked Ninja. His only reply was to twitch his nose. A sudden noise outside interrupted my thoughts. I ran to the window by my door, opened it, and looked out to see what was going on. I wasn't the only one, as many of the other acts had done so as well.

"Look what you did! Do you know how much this skirt cost? It's completely ruined!" An annoying voice screeched. Ah, Lissa. What a delight you are. I leaned a bit farther out to see who the victim was this time, and saw red with anger once I did.

"I'm very sorry miss. I uh, didn't see you there." The soft southern accent of out juggler, Chris, said, an apologetic look on his face.

"Obviously!" she sneered. I studied the situation. Let's see…Chris has a hose…Lissa is wet…I think I see. You see, Chris is blind, meaning, he can't see. At all. He must have been watering his flowers and Lissa stepped in his way, causing her to get wet. Lissa's loud voice was attracting a crowd, and while Chris couldn't see it, he could hear the whispering. A blush made its way onto his face.

"I'd be happy to replace it, miss." He said, ducking his head in embarrassment. I felt really bad now. Chris had been the first one I met when I joined the circus. Only being fifteen then, he was the one who helped me discover my love for magic. He was in his twenty's now, with shaggy, wavy, dust brown hair and deep but clouded green eyes.

"This skirt cost more than that shit trailer you live in!" She yelled, thoroughly pissing me off. Chris was a quiet and polite person, and here she was, being queen bitch to him. In the background, I heard the Ghost Adventures Crew yelling, and inspiration struck.

"Hey, Lissa!" I called out the window. She paused her public display of embarrassment to look at me.

"What color are your pants?" I yelled to her. Her reaction to hearing this was similar to mine.

"…What?" She said, confused.

"What color are your pants?" I repeated.

"I'm not wearing pants." She replied without thinking. Chris bit his lip, trying not to laugh, while all the other onlookers cracked up. A look of realization hit her and she turned as red as her hair. I laughed at her and hopped out of my window and headed over to where they were.

"Ugh, you are so immature Shiloh!" She shrieked, throwing a pathetic excuse for a glare at me.

"I may be immature but…your stupid, so meh!" I shot back, sticking my tongue out. I threw my arm around Chris and smirked at her.

"Just go away. This doesn't concern you." She sneered, and I sighed.

"You just don't get it, do you?" I said, adopting a mock wistful tone.

"Get what?" she asked.

"Everything that goes on in this circus is my business. I'm the circus freak, remember?" I said, and Chris' shoulders shook with silent laughter.

"I'm telling daddy!" she yelled, storming away on her big high heels.

"Tattle tale!" I called after, making her shriek in rage.

"Thanks darlin'." He drawled, tipping his hat to me, and I giggled at the nickname he used for me.

"You're oh-so-very welcome. I was bored, and she provided entertainment." I replied. Carefully I took the hose out of his hands so I could put it up. I say carefully because I didn't want to offend him in any way. I turned back and saw him smiling, not looking offended in the slightest. I couldn't help but smile as I walked back to him.

"Well, I'll see you later Chris. I gotta rest up before rehearsal." I said. He tipped his hat once more and bid me goodbye. I turned to leave and ran right into a telephone pole.

"Ow…" The sound of my failure rang out, metaphorically of course.

"Sometimes, I swear I see better than you." Chris said, figuring out what had happened. He laughed softly before retreating into his trailer. I couldn't help but laugh as I went back to my trailer. I stopped laughing when I tripped up the steps to the door.

"Wow…maybe he's right…"I said to myself, brushing off the imaginary dust. I looked at my TV to see what was on. There must have been some paranormal marathon, because Paranormal Activity was playing, the first one that is. It was at the part where the Ouija board catches fire out of absolutely nowhere. I started to giggle. The movie always made me laugh. It never really scared me, because it was so stupid sometimes. I did like it though, much better than the sequels/prequels/whatever they are. They were confusing to me. I sat on my bed and continued to watch.

I watched without really paying much attention, pulling a lock of my curly hair until it was straight then letting go, it springing back up like, well, a spring. I freaked out when my alarm went off, signaling that it was my turn to practice. We were doing dress rehearsals, so I quickly put on my white sparkly leotard with a black bow in the middle and my matching hat, and got ninja in his cage. I got all my stuff and walked to the practice tent.

One I got there, I started to put everything in its place for the run through. As I was doing this, I saw Max.

"Hey, what did the ringmaster want with you?" I called to her.

"Nothing much. Just that in the show in California, he's going to extend my act a bit." She said back. I nodded and she left. I started setting up again when Nudge literally ran into me.

"Sorry Shi! I gotta go find Scarlett!" she called, running out. I picked myself off and continued. Once everything was set up, I walked out to see what all the commotion was. I saw my friend Shaylin rushing about. She was a comedy act that was centered on mythical creatures, like vampires, werewolves, nymphs, fairies, the list goes on. She was in her vampire costume at the moment, though. She had realistic fangs on her teeth. She had thick black eyeliner and smoky black eye shadow. She had super bright red lipstick on and pale foundation. Her hair was in loose curls, kinda like mine, but longer, and she had red extensions in. She had a strapless dress on. The dress was a corset dress, the main color black, but the middle where the corset part met was silver. The strings of the corset were silver as well. The bottom fluffed out, and the skirt fell in a bunch of ripped layers. She wore fishnet stockings and fishnet fingerless gloves. She had black high heels on, and as I came closer, I noticed she had red contacts in.

"What's going on around here?" I asked her. She looked at me and grimaced.

"Tessie fell. Broke her leg and she has a concussion." She said. I winced. That had to hurt. I looked behind her and saw Tessie on a makeshift stretcher, someone calling the hospital.

"No wonder Nudge needs Scarlett…" I said to myself. Scarlett was a contortionist, but also a stand in for any hurt corde lisse dancers. She didn't have an act for this show, so she could be a stand in. We said our goodbyes and I went back to the tent. I went to ninja's cage and took him out.

"Ready boy?" I said, and he twitched his nose in response. I put him in my hat, took a deep breath, and started to practice.

**Well, that's a pretty crappy chapter to have taken so long to write. Hopefully chapter 3 will be up sooner than this one was. Reviews might make me update faster *wink wink* **


	3. Chapter 3

**...Hey guys...so...how's it going? Alright, I'll cut to the chase. I suck at updating. I thought I was going to get a lot of writing done this summer, because I had more free time. Apparantly, I thought wrong. It turns out, I get alot of ideas when I shouldn't, like in math class, or when my mother goes on a rant about something my brother or I did. So, I had the worst writers block for this. But, luckly for you guys, School starts soon for me, (now I'm in high school, Yikes!) and I can start writing in math class again! On a completly different note, I'm considering writing a Vocaloid fanfic. If any of you are Vocaloid fans, Should I go for it? I'm not sure yet, because this one is hurting my mind trying to keep up, but the ideas for a Vocaloid fanfic keep popping up all over the place. Oh, and also, I forgot to do this in the last chapters. The one footed penguin line belongs to my super mega foxy awesome hot friend, Max. (that enough credit for you, babe? I jest, I jest XD) One more thing, said awesome friend and I are co-writing a Soul Eater fanfiction together. So for any fans of soul eater, check out our story. Her pen-name is Maxthereaper13. Now that all of that is out of the way, on with the show!**

**Nudge POV**

"Scarlett! Are you in here?" I yelled into her trailer. At no response, I poked my head in. Nothing. I sighed and walked out. I needed to teach Scarlett the routine before tomorrow's performance, and she's nowhere to be found! I looked in her trailer, in the main tent, the attraction area, the game tents, and the ringmaster's office, and she wasn't in any of those places. I thought about any places that I hadn't checked. While I was running through my list, I ran into someone. Literally. I looked to see who I had run into, and sighed in relief when I saw it was just Max, and not Lissa.

"Alright there, Nudge?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I need you're help! I need to find Scarlett so I can teach her the routine that Tessie was supposed to do before she fell, but I can't find her! I've checked everywhere! The ringmaster's office, the main tent the HMPH-"I was cut off by Max's hand slapping over my mouth.

"I got it Nudge. I saw her in the animal tent about 5 minutes ago. She's there with Morgan and Kaia-Mai." She said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I face-palmed, because it was. Scarlett's best friend was Kaia-Mai, and she was always hanging out in the animal tent, because Kaia-Mai and Morgan were dating.

"Thanks Max!" I called over my shoulder as I ran out to the animal tent. As soon as I reached it, I saw Scarlett. I could have exploded from relief.

"SCARLETT!" I screeched, running over and tackling her. She staggered back and looked at me.

"…Yeah?" She asked, snickering a bit.

"Tessie fell, and I need you to fill in for her. Oh, hi Kaia, Hi Morgan." I said, finally seeing the other two standing behind Scarlett. To be honest, I'm not sure how I didn't see them as soon as I walked in the tent, with Kaia-Mai's bright red hair that faded to black at the tips, and Morgan's height. Seriously, that boy was tall! Kaia-Mai was really short, so they looked so strange together, and yet they were perfect.

"Hey, Nudge." They said in unison. They always did things like that. One of the tigers started growling, forcing Morgan to go take care of it, because he was the animal trainer. Kaia-Mai was the fire dancer.

"No way. Tessie fell?" Scarlett chimed in, concern lacing her voice. I nodded and grabbed her by the arm, yelling at Kaia-Mai that I would return her later. As we walked, I explained what happened.

"She got caught in the cloth, and when she tried to get loose, she let go, so when she got free, she just…fell. I'm not sure what happened after, because I ran out of there like a bat out of hell." I said. She nodded thoughtfully.

"How in the world did she think that was going to end well?" She wondered. I was about to reply when I ran into Lissa and Shiloh, arguing about god knows what.

"Hey, Shi." I greeted. She nodded in acknowledgement and went back to arguing with the demon.

"They need the practice area, I can finish when their done!" Shi exploded.

"Daddy says that you need to practice the ending as much as you can!" Lissa shot back. Ah, I see. Shiloh was pausing her practice time so I could teach Scarlett the routine, and Lissa was mad at her.

"Why do you even care?" Scarlett cut in.

"Because if Daddy's show goes badly, then he won't let me go to a concert that's in town because he will be so mad. It's on the last day we are going to be here, and I can't miss it!" She screeched.

"Look, depressingly enough, Scarlett is the corde lisse dancers only hope." Shi said, earning an annoyed 'hey' from Scarlett. "If they don't practice, then the show will go even worse than if I mess up!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. I assumed that she had been arguing for a while, and although Shiloh loves to argue, no one likes to argue, let alone talk to Lissa. Lissa's face turned redder than her hair as she realized that Shi was right.

"W-well, you're…stupid!" she said. I started snickering at her lame comeback, getting a wimpy glare in return.

"At least I'm wearing pants." Shi said, and walked away, leaving Lissa steaming mad and me and Scarlett confused.

"What was that about pants?" Scarlett asked. Lissa started shrieking about jugglers and water, leaving us more confused. She looked to us and scowled.

"Fuck you guys." She growled, storming from the scene. Scarlett and I stood in total silence, trying to comprehend what just went down.

"What just happened?" Scarlett wondered aloud.

"I…don't…know. Something about jugglers, water, and pants." I said, staring at the spot where the two had been arguing. Scarlett shrugged.

"Whatever, it's probably something only Shiloh can make up in her insanity driven mind." She said. We continued to walk to the practice tent. As we did, I thought about Shi and Scarlett.

As you can tell, Scarlett and Shi have a strange frenemy relationship. From the moment those two met, they butted heads, but always sided with each other when battling Lissa. I've also seen them playing bored games together on multiple occasions.

"Hey, we're here." Scarlett said, breaking me from my thoughts. I smiled to myself.

(this is a time skip line. Isn't it pretty? I think so.)

"…So then you're going to go from the basic upside-down hang into an arabesque. From there you'll just drop to near the bottom of the fabric. Then, you just get down. Got that?" I said, finishing showing her the moves. She nodded.

"It's simple enough to get. It's lucky she didn't have you're part." She said, and I blushed. I was in the middle of all the others, doing something different, and more complicated. I looked at my watch and took notice of the time.

"Holy cow, it's that late already? The girls are gonna kill me if I stay any longer! Sorry Scarly, gotta go!" I said, and rushed out. It was tradition to have a pre-show sleepover before our first show in a new town. It always changed location, and this time, it was in Max's trailer. I ran into the trailer area and got to Max's, bursting in loudly.

"Sorry I'm late! I was caught up with teaching Scarly the new moves and wondering what that argument was about with you and Lissa, Shi. Also, we had to go over one part because I messed up because I didn't know the moves very well, because I do a different part, and HMPH-" I was cut off for the second time that day, this time by Shiloh.

"'S about time you got here." She grumbled, walking over to the bed.

"What are you complaining about, Shi? You got here about 30 seconds before Nudge did." Max smirked as Shi gasped.

"Max! How could you betray me like this? I thought you were my friend! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!" She yelled dramatically, falling on the floor in a less than graceful form. I laughed at her.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Max asked, ignoring Shi's whines on the floor.

"We could watch a movie." I said. Shi got up off the floor and stretched.

"Sounds good to me." She said, getting on Max's bed.

"What do you guys want to watch?" Max asked, going over to her movie shelf by the T.V.

"THE NOTEBOOK!"

"THE EXORCIST!" Shi and I yelled at the same time. We looked over at each other with matching looks of confusion and disgust.

"Seriously, Nudge? That movie? It's so girly! And sad, too!" Shi said.

"But it's so sweet! And the exorcist? It's so scary!" I exclaimed.

"Alright, Nudge, the notebook is too girly to watch. Shi, we can't watch a horror movie. Save the scary for the night show." Max said. Both me and Shi pouted.

In case you don't know, we do two shows a day, a day show and a night show. The day show is all the normal acts, and the night show is for teens and adults, a scary show. Shi was the only one out of the three of us that did night show's regularly, using creepier magic tricks, and singing horrifying songs. Max and I would participate sometimes, using dark music and dark colors and creepier costumes for me, and upping the danger for Max. We didn't do it much, because it ran really late, but Shi's an insomniac, so she can stay up long enough to do the show.

"Why don't we watch inception?" Max said. We nodded, and got to work setting up for the night. Max got to work setting up the DVD player, Shi went into the kitchen area to make popcorn and get snacks, and I pushed the bed into the wall to make way for our sleeping bags.*

"Done!" We all chorused at the same time. We all laughed as we went to our respective sleeping bags. Shi passed us each a bowl with popcorn in it, as well as some cookies she brought. We settled onto the pillows serving as seats and pressed play, starting the movie. Shi clicked off the lights and walked back, nearly knocking over my popcorn.

About halfway though the movie, I got bored. I've seen it a billion times. I nibbled on a cookie as my eyes wondered around the room, marveling at the walls. A little known fact about Max- she could paint. She could paint really good. Her walls were each a different scene. One was a flock of birds, flying in the sky. The second wall was a painting of Shi, Max and me in anime style. Max hadn't drawn the concept, she just painted it. Shi drew it. The third wall was a forest, and a mysterious house in the background. Max doesn't know why she put it there, she just said it felt right. The fourth wall was my favorite. It was shadow art of me, Shi and Max, once again, this time in a realistic form. We were all in costume, but you couldn't see any colors, just black forms on a white wall. I was laying completely horizontal on a corde lisse rope, one arm straight out slightly above my head, the other grabbing the rope, and the fabric flowed off my legs in a sexy fashion. ax was on a trapeze, hair loose, looking awesome. Her arms were dangling down, showing her freedom. Shi was sitting on her prop table cross legged, one arm down, holding her wand, the other hand in her curly hair. Her hat was on as well. There were also things connecting each figure. The rope from my figure went up and turned into Max's trapeze ropes, and Max's figure was balancing a sparkle like shape in her hand. There was a line of the sparkle like shapes, going from Max's hand to Shi's wand.

I was broken from my thoughts when I noticed that the movie had ended. I looked to my sides and saw both Max and Shi had fallen asleep. I was wondering about Shi until I noticed a bottle of sleeping pills next to her. I smiled and shut off the TV, getting settled in my sleeping bag.

'We're gonna have a big day tomorrow' was my last conscious thought before I fell asleep. If only I knew how big it was going to be…

**Gah, this is a crappy chapter! How come it took me so long to get it up! I don't really write Nudge all that well. Because I'm still kinda new to the whole writing thing, is it okay with you guys if I wrote in Shiloh's POV more often? She's the easiest to write. Also, I got the Shadow art idea from the music video to a song called 'Bad Apple' Reviews are like candy to me, and they make me smile! And, I already have part of chapter 4 written, so maybe I'll update faster with reviews! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Well...hey guys. Long time no see. This was supposed to be longer, but I had serious writers block. I could never get anything done. Then, I got a review from Shadow, which gave me the kick in the ass I needed to get this sucker done. It was supposed to have the show scene in it, but that will have to be chapter 5. Sorry. Thank you Shadow! One more thing. Do you guys remember the story My Immortal? The one everyone had commentaries too, because it was so bad? Well, I have one written up myself. Do you guys want me to post that? It seems a bit late for that, seeing as that fanfiction is pretty old, but my brother wants me too. What do you guys think? Also, Me and my friend are doing an audio reading of it on youtube. The first one is already up, but I'm not in it. It's by 123gothiclove on youtube. Check it out, When I get there, it will be fantastic XD**

**On with the show!**

**Shiloh Pov:**

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was my current location. I was in the kitchen area, curled up on one of Max's counters. As you can tell, I have the horrible habit of sleepwalking. I sat up and blinked, adjusting my eyes to the harsh lights. I slid off the counter, and began to search for the others. Max walked out of the bathroom, appearing behind me.

"Mornin' Shi," she yawned, walking into the kitchen to make breakfast. I looked to the ground and spotted Nudge, passed out in her purple sleeping bag. She started mumbling incoherently. Max stopped getting her supplies and looked to see what was happening.

"No…Not the applesauce…It's the key to the rainbow city…" she mumbled. I stared at her in confusion.

"I'm not sure I want to know what she's dreaming about," Max stated, going back to making breakfast. I nodded and walked into the kitchen again. Max opened the fridge and stopped suddenly. She groaned and turned to me.

"Shi, you put you're bag in the fridge," she sighed. I peered over her shoulder and spied my blue bag on a shelf.

"Uh, I guess my subconscious took the term 'cold hard cash' a little too literally," I said sheepishly. She rolled her eyes at me and grinned.

"You're such a dork," she said. I grinned back and hopped up onto the counter. Max whirled around, and before I realized what was going on, she delivered a hard smack to the hand with a spatula. I shrieked and jumped down.

"Don't get up on the counter," she snapped.

"You jerk!" I whined, falling to the floor and pouting like a wounded puppy. During all the commotion, Nudge had woken up. Well, Sort of. She blearily sat up and looked around. She flopped back down with a groan and went back to sleep.

"Will you wake her up? Breakfast is almost done," Max said. I nodded and walked into the living area. I got down on the floor and crawled up to her. I quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and started to shake her violently.

"GOOD MORNING STARSHINE! THE EARTH SAYS HELLOOOOOOOO!" I screamed as loud as I could. She shrieked and turned about, arms flailing. As she spun, she struck me in the face and stomach. I groaned and laughed, switching back and forth between laughing in jubilation and whining in pain.

"I believe our dear Shi is conflicted!" Nudge laughed, fully awake from my attack. Slowly, my giggles stopped and my moans continued.

"Shi, shut up. You totally had that coming," Max said, getting out the plates. I oh-so-eloquently flipped her off. Because of all the aerial tricks Nudge does, she is quite strong, so the hit hurt like hell. I folded in on myself, holding my stomach. The face hit hadn't been that bad, but she had really put all of her strength into hitting my innocent tummy.

"Poor Shi. I guess she didn't want this delicious bacon and cherry danish." Max said. I shot up and grabbed the plate from out of her hands, ignoring the searing pain it sent through my abdomen. I ran back to the living room, throwing myself onto the couch, wincing as my stomach hit the couch. I grabbed the remote and started flicking through channels. I went to Comedy Central and saw that South Park was on. The others joined me and we ate in silence, save for the occasional laugh. Once we finished, I cleaned up and put on our clothes. We walked out of Max's trailer and saw all the other acts preparing for our show. We all split up, agreeing to meet up at Nudge's trailer in 2 hours. Max went to go talk to Kaia-Mai and Morgan, Nudge dashed off to go visit Tessie in the infirmary, and I walked off to visit Chris. I took my time to get there, lazily taking in the view of all the other acts getting in last minute practice.

I have to say, not once have I ever regretted joining the circus. All of the bright colors, the loud noise, the friendly acts, it was great. I joined the circus because of family issues, and have never once looked back. Walking slower, I began to think of random moments in my past.

_Flashback:_

_I wandered through the streets all alone. Where was I again? I couldn't remember. Somewhere is Arizona, I think. People stared at me. Why wouldn't they? A 6 year old girl, walking the streets without an adult? Pretty suspicious. I didn't care though. I was hungry, and I ran out of money somewhere in Texas. If you're wondering how I got this far, simple. My parents drove me. They drove me to Texas and left me there. What's the reason, you ask? I'd rather not say. I continued on, looking for food I could steal. I saw a guy selling hot dogs on the street. Well, better than nothing, I suppose. I ran around behind him and hid behind a trash can, waiting for a distraction. I got my chance when a young girl my age walked past. She was dirty, her hair sticking up in random directions, looking about how I imagined I looked. The vendor was immediately suspicious. He tailed the girl, and while he yelled, I stole 2 hot dogs, hoping to give the other one to the girl. She looked lonely, hungry, abandoned. She looked like me. Scared, she ran into a alleyway. The vendor, to lazy to go after her, turned back. As he did, I slipped between his legs, laughing as he spun around confused, screaming all the while. I ran into the alleyway the girl ran into. I saw her huddled in a corner, crying softly._

_ "You hungry?" I asked. Her head snapped up and she looked at me warily._

_ "No. And even if I was, you might have poisoned it, or stuck razors in it." She snapped. I blinked in surprise. That was a reaction I wasn't expecting. Poisoning it?_

"_Poison? Why would I do that? How could I do that? And razors in food? What does that even mean?" I asked her. She glared at me, and I shrank away? That was scary looking!_

_ "It means you hide sharp pieces of metal in the food so it will cut me. And other people poisoned me with food." She said, but she was eyeing the hot dog in my hand, looking as if she wanted to take it._

_ "Well, I didn't know what putting razors in food meant, so I couldn't have done that. And you can search me, I don't have a bottle with a skull and cross bones on it." I said. To my surprise, she got up and actually searched me. when she didn't find anything, she carefully took a hotdog. I grinned and plopped down on the ground, her following. _

_ "So, why are you out here all alone? Where are you're parents?" I asked. She stiffened and took the hot dog from her mouth._

_ "I don't know. I don't remember anything except this month." She said with a frown. I winced. That had to suck. She went back to her hot dog._

_ "I don't have my parents either." I said, shrugging, taking a bite out of my hot dog. She looked over at me, her eyes staring straight into mine. _

_ "Why not?" She asked. I looked over to the other side of the alley, sighing quietly and resting my head against the wall._

_ "They don't want me anymore." I said. She looked curious, but thankfully didn't question why. "What's your name?" I asked as an after thought. She suddenly grinned at me._

_ "I'm Maximum ride!" She said. I gasped._

_ "That is such a cool name! My name is Shiloh. Want to be friends?"_

_ End Flashback_

I grinned as I remembered the first time I met Max. We never left each others side after that.

"Hey there, Darlin'" I heard a voice drawl, and I came back to reality with a start. I had unconsciously walked to Chris' trailer.

"Sup' Chris?" I asked. He smiled at me and grabbed a juggling club from the table next to him.

"Just getting some last minute practicin' in before the show." He said. I grinned and jumped in place.

"Care if I watch?" I asked. He tipped his hat to me."

"Not at all." He said. I sat down on the grass and watched as he grabbed two more clubs and began throwing them in the air. It always amazed me that a blind man could juggle, using dangerous stuff like swords too. Then again, he had always amazed me. Don't tell anyone else, but when I first got here, I had a major crush on Chris. His cute hair, his beautiful eyes, his adorable southern accent and mannerisms, he was perfect in my eyes. As I grew up, I grew out of my crush. Mostly. I still had a small crush on him, but it wasn't major or anything. I was broken from my thoughts when I heard a voice booming over the speakers.

"EVERYONE, REPORT TO THE MAIN TENT! TIME TO GET SET UP FOR OUR FIRST ARIZONA SHOW!" The ringmaster commanded. I looked at Chris and grabbed his hand, pulling him to the practice tent. We had a lot to do, and this show had to be absolutely perfect!

**So, there is my crappy chapter that took me months to write. Sigh. R&R, and I'll try to get the next chapter up faster than this -_-**


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